It is well known to store and transport lengths of a flexible material wound onto a spool or reel. The spool typically consists of a cylindrical barrel with a flange at each end projecting radially outwards. Examples of prior spools for fiber optic media are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,908,172 to Pierro et al., issued Jun. 1, 1999, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
When material is wound on a spool, the inside end portion tends to be close to the barrel and covered by material that is subsequently wound. For certain materials, however, such as for fiber-optic media, access to both ends of the wound material is desirable for integrity testing to ensure that the material is not damage or defective. The inside end portion, therefore, must be led away from the barrel of the spool to a more accessible position.
It is important to avoid damage to either the inside end portion or the main portion of the fiber-optic medium, and to avoid the formation of sharp bends or kinks that might be mistaken for faults when the medium is being tested.